The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Bruce Boudreau on the Opening Weekend of Playoffs

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Starting point is 00:01:29 Um, it's about the way Secaucus is every day. There's not much sun and it's a little dreary, but I mean, it's, uh, uh, you, it's got a nice skyline where you can see into Manhattan, but that's about it right there. So it kind of sounds like teams that are own one after the weekend the weekend, kind of dreary, a little depressing right now. As a, let me, let me start here. Well, we sort of go wide brush on some of these games here.

Starting point is 00:01:50 As a coach, what happens when your team loses the first game and how much does it matter whether it's at home or on the road? Well, I mean, I think it's a lot easier if you lose the first game on the road, as long as you learn from it. I mean, that's the biggest thing to me. I mean, I wouldn't get too down after losing the first game on the road, as long as you can improve upon that and you can get better. There were some games out there that I was pretty, like, I mean, unimpressed with this weekend. So I mean, it's gonna be interesting

Starting point is 00:02:25 to see how these teams bounce back. Who specifically? I'm guessing Ottawa might be one of those teams. I mean, that's their first kick at it here with this group. Would Ottawa be one of the most disappointing teams for you coming off the weekend? Yeah, I mean, obviously, because they knew what they had to do

Starting point is 00:02:43 and they knew what they couldn't do and they knew what they couldn't do and What did they do? They they can talk about you know? Outshooting them and five-on-five chances and that but I mean the playoffs are more than that It's it's an all-around thing and and when you take dumb penalties And you're gonna let that power play who seems to be going quite well right now on the ice, you're going to get beat. And it's, it was easy to see the Leafs weren't retaliating and Ottawa was, Ottawa was getting frustrated. But like I said, if you can learn from that, and then the next game be better.

Starting point is 00:03:19 But if you come out the same way, and the same thing's going to happen. I mean, so I mean, I give them a pass on game one because they weren't going to beat the Leafs in four straight. But if they now know what they're up against and what they have to do to win, I think it would be a good learning experience for Ottawa. Let me get a couple more thoughts here on the Sens before I shift it over to the Maple Leafs here. I wonder too, if that is just a matter of experience. You can say all the things, yeah, we know we can't do this. Yeah, we know we have to focus on that.

Starting point is 00:03:52 And then the puck drops and then the emotions all rise to the surface and all those things that you said you wouldn't do, you're thinking about as you're sitting in the penalty box. Like when you look at Ottawa, and I can't help but saying, you're thinking about as you're sitting in the penalty box. Like when you look at Ottawa and I can't help with saying, oh, it's so much of a, you take your leads from the coach, you take your leads from the captain as well. Um, how did you see, you know, both, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:16 uh, Travis and, and Brady here in that game? Well, I mean, uh, Travis never shows a lot of emotion, I mean, but I mean, I'm, I'm pretty positive that that they talked about all those things with Brady. And you said it at the beginning here is that we can talk about it. But if you haven't been there in seven years, for seven straight years, you've been thinking how great it's going to be into the playoffs. And what an amazing feeling. It's like for seven years, you haven't had Christmas.

Starting point is 00:04:48 Now all of a sudden Christmas is coming. How am I supposed to respond to it? And I think that's almost what it was like for Ottawa, which is why I say, hey, I hope they learn from that. They can do that one game. They can't cross check everybody every game because the refereeing is different, the play, the pace, the physicalness. I mean, there's so many things that are different that hopefully in 60 minutes, if you're an

Starting point is 00:05:16 Ottawa fan that you sort of gathered it all together and said, okay, now we know what we have to do. Maybe we can beat them by doing this, but we know we can't beat them by doing that. How much of that the sends loss do you pin on the goaltender? How much of this is Linus Ulmark? You know what?

Starting point is 00:05:39 I don't really, I mean, the goals that they were scored, I mean, they were pretty pretty like goals one and two were Wide open chances, even if you score four goals on the first-hand shots. I mean, I thought the sixth goal was weak I think that's the one high more touched a little bit with his Glove that yeah the high tip, but I mean, I think he should have had that but I think mentally he was like gosh We've lost this game. And, uh, but I mean, I don't hold him responsible as much as I hold, um, Ottawa allowing two grade eight chances in the first seven minutes of the game.

Starting point is 00:06:21 I mean, um, you know, I mean, when you get behind the eight ball, that's exactly what the Leafs want. Then you've got to open it up. And if you open it up against the offense on the top two lines in Toronto, they're going to get more and more scoring chances, which is what they did. You know, what about the Maple Leafs goal tender here, Anthony Stolarz? This is his real first kick added here and had a tremendous regular season. But having said that, rebound control very much an issue for, for stole ours on, on Sunday night, how did you, how did you read the leafs net

Starting point is 00:06:48 mining situation? Yeah, I thought it was, I, I didn't think it was overly great, but I thought it was a learning experience that he got away with, um, in his first game in the playoffs and he'll know better, like the rebound control will be better. I think he won't have as much movement in the net the next game because he got the butterflies out and I think getting a lead when you're Anthony Stolar is you're playing with a little bit of found money rather than if all of a sudden the first shot would have went in against him and he hadn't played in the

Starting point is 00:07:26 playoff game before. He might be going, uh-oh, what's going on here? I think he got away with one a little bit. He can look back. I'm a pretty positive guy, so I would have been looking back on chances and shots on goal and come away with it and said, Hey, listen, I did pretty good, allowed one in the first one in the third. So I'm pretty happy with myself, but I know I can do better. And that would be a pretty positive thing going into the next game. You know, pretty much

Starting point is 00:07:57 all the big boys for the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the back of the net, save Austin Matthews here. But you know, the one player who is for whatever reason, such a galvanizing player, loaded with skill, the playoff production has been a criticism in the past. You have a thought on game one from Mitch Marner with three points last night? Yeah, I think it's great for him. I think, boy, is he proven everybody like, I mean, I don't know Mitch at all but he seems to be the guy that says okay you know you know I'm not signed you don't think I score in the playoffs I'll show you guys we'll see where this goes I guess he has a lot of faith in his ability and I mean it comes to the forefront as a as a coach against him I always

Starting point is 00:08:40 thought he was the best player in that team and I mean he creates the most his passes are so good like Austin Matthews you had to worry about because he was the best player on that team. And I mean, he creates the most, his passes are so good. Like Austin Matthews, you had to worry about because he was the finisher, but a Mitch Marner was always the guy that was, he was either killing a penalty or he was creating an opportunity. Uh, and you know, obviously the playoffs haven't gone so well for him or the whole team for, for that matter. But I mean mean this whole year It's like with a hundred points. He's putting it on his back and saying, okay

Starting point is 00:09:09 Let's we will talk when this thing's over But I'm if you didn't want to get me you're gonna have to pay for me right now because this is He's showing how good he can be every every game The price goes higher and higher for for Mitch Marner, every game that goes by is what it seems. Oh yeah. I mean, a hundred percent. I mean, uh, cause you know what? I don't care what his money, what they say, uh, they can afford or they

Starting point is 00:09:38 can't afford or whatever, somebody will pay it. I mean, for Mitch Marner, I don't care what that number right number, right up to the max, somebody would pay it for Mitch Marner. And you know what, he'd sit there and he'd say, hey, I'm making this amount of money, but I mean, you guys wanna get mad at me because you think I'm making too much, I'm gonna show you. This is the way he plays,

Starting point is 00:09:59 that he wants to show people how good he is, and he's obviously pretty good. There is something though, with him and the, the lure of being a Toronto Maple Leaf and maybe you can say the Maple Leafs are relying too much on that. I mean, you can, you can relate with this, Booth. I mean, you played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, you played for the Toronto Marlboro. It's like, you understand that tug, that gravity that can exist between a player and that team for whatever reason.

Starting point is 00:10:28 100%. I mean, I always wanted to be a Leaf. I didn't want to go anywhere. I would have given my eye, teeth to stay there my whole career. And I think Mitch is of that same volition. But back in the day, we didn't have as many people telling us what's best for him and his career. And so, I mean, I really do believe he's gonna do what he wants to do, but I think he will listen to people that give him the advice

Starting point is 00:10:56 on what to do. And it would be, you know, it might be something he doesn't want to do, but he'll do it on the advice of other people. Like I'm willing to bet Renton and would like to be in Colorado right now, no matter how much money he's getting paid. And I mean, but sometimes that's a strange lure, that money thing. Let me ask about one of your other teams,

Starting point is 00:11:20 the Minnesota Wild. Of all the games that I saw this weekend, the Minnesota Vegas game to me was the best hockey game. It might not have been the most Wild. Of all the games that I saw this weekend, the Minnesota Vegas game to me was the best hockey game. It might not have been the most exciting. Winnipeg St. Louis was from the opening face off right to pretty much the end of the game was excitement and lead changes and a great game. But as far as just a pure hockey game, I think the best one I saw this weekend was Minnesota and Vegas. And you know, Bruce, for the last five or six years, we always talk about how styles make fights. Styles make good hockey games too. And for whatever reason, Minnesota and Vegas, I mean, you know what I'm talking about.

Starting point is 00:11:50 Minnesota and Vegas, for whatever reason, Bruce, you probably understand it better than me. They just mix well. And every time these two teams get together, it's a really good hockey game. And we saw it again yesterday. Yeah. Cause I, I think both teams generally think they can win and they both play. Listen, Minnesota is built a lot like what Burnwood want is they're big, they're tough and they're physical and you know Vegas is in the built like Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee want them, which is big

Starting point is 00:12:26 and strong and tough. So it makes for a playoff a really good playoff game. I thought it was one of two playoff games so far this weekend that were actually good playoff games. I thought the St. Louis Winnipeg game for 55 minutes was a real good playoff game as well. They played within themselves, but at the same time, they played harder than a regular season game.

Starting point is 00:12:55 Those two games were really good games. I thought, like I said, Ottawa, to me, gets a pass for game one. I thought Dallas was horrible. They were exactly what I expected them to be. And I like everybody in Dallas. But I just have not been a believer in them at all. And I think they really miss a Nathan McKinnon type player. They got a lot of great players, but they don't have a Nathan McKinnon type player. I thought New Jersey didn't even belong on the same ice as Carolina, even though the score was relatively close for the most part. So I mean, I hope to see there's a couple more teams haven't played yet and see those games play and start to get into a groove of playoff hockey.

Starting point is 00:13:46 One of those teams is the Washington Capitals who we'll see tonight. I want to rewind and get the windup back, but let me get your thoughts on the caps because we'll see the caps and the Montreal Canadians. And of course we all go back to 2010 and remember that it was kind of a similar situation, a top team facing off against a team that just barely made it into the playoffs. What do you make of the Capitals this season? It's weird the way that going into the playoffs, Winnipeg was a top team, Washington was a top team, but no one's saying that either of these top teams are going to win the Stanley

Starting point is 00:14:19 Cup, and that's rare. Do you have a thought on the Caps, the Habs? Well, I mean, the Caps haven't played very well for the last 25 games. That's probably the reason being. I mean, the first 50 games, they were arguably the best team in the league. They were definitely in first place right outside the gate. They had the best goals against average. They had nobody getting hurt. They had the same six defensemen played for 60 straight games. They had Alex was scoring and they were still scoring. They had the best shooting percentage in the league. And so everything was going well for them. I think, I mean, I don't know if it was the chase got too big, the chase with Alex got too big for

Starting point is 00:15:03 them and they couldn't focus as much in the last, say, 20 games. But all of a sudden, they went from the best defensive team to the worst save percentage team in the league, which is with three goals or more on them. So it was pretty difficult to understand. I'm really looking forward to see which capital team we have tonight. I mean, is it the one with the last 15 games or is it the previous one? I'm thinking you'll see the one of the previous 15, the first 50 games rather than the last

Starting point is 00:15:44 32. I hope it's a great series. Let me get a closing thought here on the, uh, the St. Louis Winnipeg game that we saw on Saturday. I think Scott Arniel isn't getting enough headlines for what he's been able to do with this Winnipeg Jets team. Uh, but I think that the, the work that Jim Montgomery has done this season with the St.

Starting point is 00:16:02 Louis Blues is should be an, and it is pretty obvious to everybody, um, casual or otherwise who season with the St. Louis Blues should be, and it is pretty obvious to everybody, casual or otherwise, who's watched the St. Louis Blues this season. This was wild. I'll just be blunt, Gabby, this was a wild, fun ride. You're right, you mentioned earlier, outside of the last five minutes, this was just a flat out, fun hockey game.

Starting point is 00:16:20 As a coach, what do you take away from that game? I mean, if I'm St. Louis, I'm saying, hey, we can beat these guys, you know, like, I mean, but I mean, they can beat them if I mean, poor Brad not gonna be able to to do that for the whole game every game But I think this is a six game series and I think I mean, I think it's gonna go back and forth this is a mono a mono type of series and I loved it and I think in the end Winnipeg is is used to playing these games and winning them and I think that's the reason they won out in the end. I think if St. Louis had have gotten the lead, they can defend as well and Bennington can definitely defend a one goal lead.

Starting point is 00:17:14 So I mean, I just think it was a real playoff game and where the physicality was there, but they played within the lines for the most part. And I mean, it was up and down and there's speed to this both units or both lineups and it was really fun to watch. It sure was and more great hockey on the horizon. Enjoy your time tonight at NHL Network and we will chat soon my friend. Thanks always for doing this for Gabby. Really appreciate it. All right. Anytime Jeff. Thank you. You try to give me a little medicine I'm like, no, man, that's fine I'm not against those methods, but I knew It's me, myself and how this gon' be fixing my mind

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The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Bruce Boudreau on the Opening Weekend of Playoffs

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The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Bruce Boudreau on the Opening Weekend of Playoffs

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